Saturday, October 31, 2009

When The Beautiful Becomes Ordinary And The Ordinary Becomes Invisible




I know you would say these are beautiful flowers. They are. But soon, I would not be seeing them in my garden. "They have to go" says my friend, John, who does most of the garden work. "They have become so ordinary, they have lost their charm" - those were John's words. I know what he means. These flowers multiply so fast. In the area where we live, they have ceased being regarded as ornamental. They are now considered as weeds.

Last year, we discarded a variety of flowers among them is the purple beauty which you see at the bottom photo. The reason? They have become so common. The flower had the last say. As I took the snapshot, I could almost hear it tell me, "Look! What is so common about giving an otherwise drab piece of land some color?".

I cannot help but reflect on the idea of the beautiful becoming common. I believe it is a major flaw in our human character. How many of us had ceased counting our blessings just because we are so used to having them? They have become to us so common and therefore have become invisible. If you are a mom, you must have lived that invisibility. You spend so much time doing caring work which is given no value and therefore invisible. I remember when one of my kids, who was in his teens then was asked by his friends what the work is of his mom. His reply "She is just an ordinary housewife". Yes, the woman who gave up her career just to be able to give her family the best care possible is just doing something ordinary.

I could go on and on but I love to hear what you got to say.

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